New Korean restaurant in Park Slope gets thumbs-up
Korean restaurants have been moving out of Manhattan’s Koreatown and into the city’s neighborhoods for several decades now, and one of the latest in Brooklyn, Haenyeo at 239 Fifth Ave. in Park Slope, has been getting rave reviews.
Haenyeo is named after the legendary female divers of Jeju island in Korea who harvested shellfish and seaweed. The name might signify that Haenyeo is the creation of two women — chef Jenny Kwak and her mother, Myung Ja Kwak, who is semi-retired but who still makes the kimchi. The restaurant features several black-and-white photos of the divers as other nautical-themed decorations.
In a recent review, Gothamist praised the dishes, many of which tend to be toward the spicy side. Among them are Chigae, “a soupy, spicy kimchi stew thick with the fermented cabbage, tofu squares and slices of pleasantly gamey pork belly;” the spicy squid and mackerel versions of Bibimbap, a Korean rice dish; Rice Cake Fundido, which contains lots of cheese and chorizo; and the Grilled Oysters.
